Gobi leads $3m round for Australia's Airwallex

Beijing-based Gravity Venture Capital also participated in the round, along with two angel investors. The company - which was co-founded by Jack Zhang, who previously worked as a technology developer for National Australia Bank's foreign exchange division - will use the new capital to expand its development teams in Melbourne and China and to accelerate its research and development efforts.

Airwallex will initially target small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia that do business with clients or suppliers based in China and Hong Kong. The company aims to provide a platform that SMEs can use to transfer money internationally at the interbank rate, charging a flat fee per transaction.

Airwallex has already obtained the necessary licenses to operate in China and Hong Kong, and plans to launch once it has been approved by Australian regulators, which is expected in the next few weeks. Once the platform has been operational for a few months the team plans to raise a Series A round of A$15 million-A$20 million.

Gobi was founded in 2002 and has raised seven funds to date, investing in over 130 companies mostly located in China and Southeast Asia. Gravity was formed last year by Joei Dai, the former general manager of CyberAgent Ventures China, launching its first fund at the same time with a target of $30 million.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Greater China
• Financials
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Venture
• Australia
• China
• Gobi Partners
• seed